*Absence of scanners causing traffic congestion
*Construction of Apapa/Oworonshoki to commence after rainy season
*FG prioritised fixing of six roads across geopolitical zones
*Speaks on power, Second Niger Bridge

By Charles Kumolu

TO end  the current traffic congestion resulting from the activities of trucks and fuel tankers in Lagos, Nigeria must build more ports and expand existing ones.

Fashola

This was the position of the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, at an interactive session with social clubs yesterday in Lagos.

He said the failure to expand the ports for more than three decades, resulted in the current congestion being experienced, adding that work would commence on Apapa/Oworonshoki Expressway at the end of the rainy season.

Fashola, who gave a report on the activities of the ministry, explained that the current administration should not be blamed for the state of the power sector, noting that it only inherited little or no control over the sector from its predecessor.

Specifically, he said the country had the capacity to produce 7000 Megawatts, adding that the government’s interest in the sector had virtually been sold off when the Muhammadu Buhari administration came on board.

In addition, he disclosed that the government prioritised the fixing of six roads across the country, describing them as being critical to the economic survival of Nigeria.

His words: “Nigeria is living on infrastructure built more than 30 years ago. For instance, the airport was designed for 200 passengers without provision for expansion. Now, it hosts about eight million people. Apapa is Nigeria’s first industrial estate which was created many decades ago. No expansion was done in Apapa until the 1980s during the time we had Cement Armada. Our economy grew for more than seven years but we didn’t expand our ports. By the time we were expanding in the 1980s, we were already experiencing a crisis. That was why Coconut and Tincan ports were built.

Sixth port expansion

“I was a teenager when they were being built. Now, I am 55 years old, no expansion work has been done since the last time it was done. Singapore is undertaking its sixth port expansion. When we started Badagry and Lekki ports, we did that because of the expansion and the need to ease congestion on infrastructure. There is nothing bad about our country but we should ask ourselves what we did wrong.

‘’Bridges were built 40 years ago. When I was a governor, we closed the Third Mainland Bridge in 2012 but one phase was only done. And the job was not concluded.   What we could have done in 2012 is now being done in 2018 with the budget of 2012.

“Ikorodu road now belongs to Lagos State government. What belongs to the federal government on that stretch is Funsho Williams Avenue. That is why our contractors have been on that road. In terms of maintenance, Federal Road Maintenance Agency, FERMA, maintains roads in the country. But in my view, it was created without regard to the institutional control of federal controllers. We are using the budget of the controllers and FERMA ’s budget to create a synergy. The major problem that we have to deal with is the construction of roads. Maintenance will come after construction.

Apapa/Oworonshoki Expressway

“We are having a conversation about maintaining bridges because such was not being done before. That was why Ijora Bridge collapsed. Now we are looking for the design because we can’t find those that built it.     On Second Niger Bridge, work is ongoing there. We have given approval for the construction of Apapa/Oworonshoki Expressway and I believe that before the end of the rainy season, work will commence.

Buhari inherited ports without scanners.   It takes three hours to check a container because of the absence of scanners. We won’t eliminate gridlock if we don’t do what we are doing now. These things don’t happen by proclamation. The scanners need to be produced. Before we came on board, they said they had commenced the construction of the Second Niger Bridge, but that was not true.

We revived abandoned projects

“Instead of starting new projects, we revived abandoned projects. In making the decision we did not have enough money.   The fund for the construction of roads was N2.2 trillion as at when I took over. We set out six priorities. We identified roads with heaviest vehicles. We also said we should focus on roads that lead to ports, petrol depots, and agricultural bases.

Some of the roads include Lagos/Ibadan, Ilorin/Jebba/Mokwa, and Kano/Katsina.   If we fixed those highways 50 percent of Nigeria’s road problem will be solved. All I can say is that there is no state in this country that our ministry is not funding roads. We got more value through the Treasury Single Account, TSA. We needed to borrow. For those who said we are borrowing too much, we borrow to invest. If we don’t borrow, we will have to wait till when we have the money. We also borrowed through SUKUK and the 100 billion was applied to the six geopolitical zones.

On power sector

“In public service, work does not finish. By the time we came in, all the control that government had in the power sector had been sold off. What we had left were three plants that had not been fully built. Afam was sold but the winner didn’t have money to pay. There were power plants that were under construction. What government controlled was the transmission. Today, we have the capacity to produce 7000 but not all are releasing their capacity.”